Author Description

And so it was every Thursday at around 2pm we would rock back in our grey office chairs and with a collective sigh of relief, one of the team would fill the kettle. The self-appointed volunteer would begin to make black Camp Coffee for all of us, except for our office junior Jenny who would always opt for hot chocolate. The black coffee stained our teeth, but without a fridge we did not have the luxury of fresh milk. The hot coffee and inner sense of relaxation was both a reward and relief at the end of a busy week.We kicked back, while in the background we could hear the presses rumble as another edition of our weekly broadsheet newspaper began to roll. George began to read a Manga comic, John popped out for some fish and chips, Jenny opened the wrapping on a chocolate bar, while Gordon lit a cigarette. In the adjoining room, the editor Tom made his daily chatty phone call to his wife, while I sat and let it all wash over me.This was 1993 and we were the editorial team responsible for putting together the news, sport and features for one of Scotland's most highly regarded county newspapers: The Galloway Gazette.This was our two hour sojourn before we began planning the following week's edition. It was a time to escape from "Cow Halts Traffic on A75", "Young Mum Guilty of Shoplifting at Woolworths", "Solicitor Embezzles £300,000 of Client Funds" and similar stories and for me to find solace and some creativity in my self-centred pastime of poetry. So I would sit, with a mug of coffee in my hand and scribble some ideas, a few lines, and if I was particularly creative maybe a whole poem. The poems would never be read by anyone else... after all this was my secret and my pastime.This was a genesis... a time and place where it all began.Now fast forward 27 years to 2020.The book of poetry you are holding forms the fourth published part of a personal journey out of darkness and into light, where love and theft are in constant conflict. It is the latest part of my journey